Hanging out with Dora the Explorer

by Hannah Hogness, 

Methow Conservancy Summer Intern and rising Liberty Bell High School Sophomore

Dora the Explorer

Applying for the internship at the Methow Conservancy this summer, I knew I would be doing some fieldwork, but did not know what to expect. In my 15 year old mind, I painted a pretty hard-core picture: sharp machetes being used to clear new trails, plant inspections and property observations from dawn till dusk. Fortunately, machetes were not needed. On my first day doing field work, we went to two properties between Highway 20 and the Methow River, near Mazama. Mary Kiesau and I parked at the first property. Here, I made my first observation; Mary’s bag. Stuffed to the max with a compass, GPS unit, cameras, notebooks, food, water and other supplies she reminded me of Dora the Explorer. Extreme Dora the Explorer. To this day, Mary still remains a Dora to me and will be referred to as Dora throughout this article.

Continuing on our first property, Dora explained how each conservation easement has certain GPSed “photo-points” that are returned to annually to be photographed. Walking down the road, Dora pointed out the relatively tall strip of grass and weeds growing in the middle of the road. “Fire risk” she explained. “When cars drive over tall, dry vegetation, the heat from the car could potentially set the dried grass on fire during the hot summers.” I made sure to trim down the strip on my road before any Conservancy people came to pay me a visit! Once we reached the land owners house, we talked to him about what he’s noticed, any changes he had made or was planning on making to the property and if there was anything we should know. After that, we went on our adventure to find the photo points. Arriving at the points one by one, we used the photos from prior years to pin point what we were taking pictures of. The main photo points were on the borders of the property. Dora explained later that one reason the Conservancy does that is to make sure neighboring property owners aren’t accidentally disturbing the conserved land. Finishing the day after about 3-4 hours, I looked through some of the photos and compared them to the ones from a couple years ago. The two properties we visited that day had both changed vastly: little aspens growing into large ones, and small shrubs sprouting into large bushes along the river bank, which is good for erosion prevention and stabilizing the shoreline.

Taken in 2002, note the view of the river to the right.

The same photo in 2012, note the vegetation growth, plus many small trees have cages on them.

Pinedrops, a cool plant in the woods

The next time I accompanied Dora on a field work expedition was in mid August. It was much hotter than before and we had two larger easements to monitor. Somehow one property managed to take up five hours! These conservation easements were located up the Twisp River, and they both featured river shoreline, fallow agricultural fields as well as thick forest and brush. During this monitoring visit, the property owners joined us and walked us to the designated photo points, which was helpful since they knew how to get around the large property better than we did. Throughout the walk, Dora explained to me why the Conservancy monitors properties. When the landowners sign the conservation easements, which are permanent, they are agreeing to certain restrictions in order to protect the land. Restrictions vary from easement to easement because easement vary greatly in size and land type (farm land, river land, forest land, etc.).  For instance, most easements don’t allow off-road vehicle use or the development of any new roads; some don’t allow any new homes, though some do; some require that forest management be done. Dora explained that when we are monitoring, we are not just taking the photo-points, but we are also looking for both positive and negative man-made and natural changes to the land since the last visit. Changes could be whether irrigation is happening, if weeds are increasing and decreasing, improvements in the river banks, or other ecosystems. Finishing up our field work for the day, at the peak heat of the day, Dora and I decided to go for quick dip in the frothy Twisp River.

Scarlet gilia on a river bank in June

Throughout my work for this internship for the summer, field work definitely stuck out to me as something I looked forward to. Field work gave me the opportunity to learn about different plants, birds, and environments here in the valley. Thank you Methow Conservancy for the wonderful internship experience!